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——ftappatjannocfe J2etosEstablished 1877 An Independent Newspaper Published Every Thursday ARTHUR W. ARUNDEL, PUBLISHER Mary Ann Kuhn, Editor Peter W. Arundel, President John T. Toler, Executive Vice President To Subscribe Phone (540) 675-3338 BY MAIL: $21 a year in Rappahannock County $27 a year elsewhere in the United States Back Copies: Recent 2 months, 50 cents Older copies to 1960, $5 (as available) Office: 249 Main Street, Washington, Va. Mailing address: P.O. Box 59 Washington. Va. 22747-0059 Telephone (540) 675-3338 Fax: (540) 675-3088 e-mail: makuhn@timespapers.com Hours: 8:30 a m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Friday Member, Audit Bureau of Circulations www.TimesCommunity.com THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 2004
Our View
Fairness
Seven women of Rappahannock County are putting all of us to the test of fairness. They are the deputies of several Constitutional Officers of the Rappahannock County government. When we need to check a land deed or a court case, we might meet Peggy Ralph, a deputy Circuit Court clerk. If we need assistance from the Commissioner of Revenue’s office, Betsy Murray, a deputy revenue commissioner is likely to step forward. Unlike some of the big county offices in Northern Virginia, our reception will be helpful and courtly. In addition to their government jobs, these women are all county residents, neighbors, church acquaintances or the mom next to us at a soccer game. To those of us who go into county offices with regularity, we know they are there winter and summer, hard snow and slippery road days and sunny ones as well. Despite their skill and sometimes 10, 20 and 25 years of experience, what some of us may not know is that they are some of the lowest paid members of the county government. There are a lot of reasons for this, none of them really very good. One reason is that Rappahannock is a small county and under their assignments in offices of Constitutional Officers, the scale is dictated by Richmond. Richmond in its wisdom designs these scales on the population of the county. Our county, with 7,110 persons, is ranked with rural counties down in Southwest Virginia and not counties a stone’s throw from Washington, one of the highest cost of living centers in the nation. The other reason may simply be the squeaky wheel syndrome. Nobody stood up for these women over the years. Sheriff Larry Sherertz, also a Constitutional Officer, stood up for his 25 sheriffs deputies, winning them a $4,000 supplementary payment to augment their salaries and winning in 2001 a longevity payment plan. The women on his staff are primarily dispatchers and jail matrons and not out on armed patrol. Other county employees, not covered by Richmond rules, have been better paid than the seven women. Throughout these years, the Board of Supervisors could have done what they did for the sheriff’s deputies; they could have voted to augment their pay. This is a small county and it is not fair that a woman jail matron working a few hundred yards from a court clerk should be paid so differently. In addition to being a small county, Rappahannock is a rich county with land values 10 times those in Southwest Virginia and revenues that grow every day. We believe the Board of Supervisors should act to approve supplemental pay and equal raises and longevity awards for these seven women at its September meeting.
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